After the rugrats woke me by pounding on my kidneys, I looked outside and saw snow. A few inches of snow, in fact, covering the ground and streets. No wonder they were so excited. I took them outside while I shoveled, then we had a snowball fight. I continued an unofficial Oliveri tradition by blasting [...]
Posts Tagged ‘academy of okinawan karate’
Sanchin: The Bonus Kata
I now get to learn two new kata before obtaining my next belt. No pressure, but there is a lot of tension.
Dynamic tension, to be exact.
Sanchin is a tension kata, and as such running it is very different from running a “normal” kata like my other new one, Empi Sho. Where we typically put our [...]
Breath of Life
One wouldn’t think CPR would be part of a karate class, but this weekend the Academy of Okinawan Karate certified its SWAT team members in CPR. One of our black belts, Mrs. Denise Miller (everyone say hi, as she’s out there reading), works as a nurse for a living, and she led the class.
It’s been [...]
On Terrorizing Children
Killer on the loose!
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri.
I never realized scaring kids can be both so difficult and so much fun at the same time.
The Academy of Okinawan Karate put on their annual haunted house last night, and as one of their students I volunteered to help out this year. They supplied me with an orange [...]
The Karate to Come
I just dumped several pictures on my Flickr account from two recent events at the Academy of Okinawan Karate, the school where I study Shuri-ryu. Some came from last month’s graduation, and the remainder are from this weekend’s Friends & Family Day demonstrations.
These events are a lot of fun for me, not just because some [...]
Break Day ‘08
Mike’s Break — Tetsui
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri.
I’ve been looking forward to Break Day all year.
The Academy of Okinawan Karate only does break day once a year, so I made sure my travel plans weren’t going to throw it off. Even the Midget has been calling it his “favorite season” and asked me if it was [...]
Shuri-ryu: Year One
Karate Moleskine
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri.
Last week marked the one-year anniversary of my Shuri-ryu karate training at the Academy of Okinawan Karate.
It amazes me how far I’ve come in just one year. In addition to losing a lot of weight, my stances have become longer and lower, my kicks have gotten higher, and my techniques have [...]
A Year in Pictures
What a difference a year makes.
Despite falling behind on my 52 Weeks Flickr group contributions, I now have an entire year’s worth of self portraits in my 52 Weeks set. Sure, I’ve got 8 more to post, but time-wise there’s a year in there and it’s neat looking back and seeing if things have changed [...]
In for the Long Haul
Future Black Belt
Originally uploaded by MikeOliveri.
Tonight I joined my dojo’s Black Belt Club. This means I’m making a commitment to earn my black belt, and I’ll get to attend some extra workouts to get help toward that goal.
It’s a longer contract, but after thinking about it for a few weeks I’ve decided that just means [...]
